: Picked up a dual temp glue gun, and am wondering what sort of glue
: you all use for temp gluing wood together. Is the Menards
: all-purpose stuff OK?

Yeah. The cheaper the better. You really don't want GOOD hot glue sticks. For our purposes, most of the hot glue use is for temporary clamping. You want something that will hold your strip in place until a decent adhesive (glue or epoxy) sets up and creates a permanent bond. After that you want the hot melt glue joint to break free with a sharp tap from a hammer. if the hot-melt join is in any way "strong" you'll have to give it a really hard whack to break it. That could cause damage. So in this case, cheap glue, which will not give you a good bond, is exactly what you want.

The local dollar store has bags of the mini glue sticks (low temp). Great for our needs. They used to have glue guns for a dollar, too, but I can't find them that cheap any more.

There are some expensive gluing systems which use an expensive hot glue in a fancy applicator. These tools are designed for durable glue joints, and give a joint strength similar to what you would get with a white glue, or a hide glue. Since the glue is applied hot, the bond sets up in a minute or less--much faster than waiting for white glue to set. I'm told cabinet makers love the stuff. It is great stuff, expensive, and most definitely: This is NOT what we want.

In a posting on "building costs" this week someone listed a cost of over $100 for their hot glue. That would likely be someone who bought one of these professional hot glue systems. The craft stores have cheap glue guns for under $10--sometimes you'll find them for less than $5. A hardware store might have one for $15- $20 with a thermostat and a fancy stand. Go for the cheap one. It does the job every bit as well.

And remember--use it sparingly. Every bit of hot glue you apply will have to be removed. The only exception woult be the few drops used to hold a strip of glass cloth along the cheer line so it is in place when the deck and hull are joined. Those drops are buried under the epoxy resin which will coat that cloth. Keep the glue spots very small.

PGJ